birth

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Cross-cultural Birthing Experience

Laura Olazabal

Florida International University

DEP 2001

May 20th, 2022

In my case, the country that I have chosen is the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is a country in the central of Africa. From the information that has already been gathered and documented about their culture when giving birth. The culture in this country is different from that of the United States. The birth culture in the Democratic Republic of Congo is characterized mainly by its culture and tradition as a country (Fantaye, Gunawardena &Yaya). This is a huge problem that cannot be easily solved. Conclusion: there are beliefs like the measure of wealth depends on the number of children a particular family has. The second culture they believe in is that a woman who gives birth at home is not as strong as her ancestors. They think that a woman should not seek medical assistance or visit hospitals when giving birth (Fantaye, Gunawardena &Yaya).

Most of these cultures are followed by most women, mainly implemented by extended families. Extended families tend to have a big say in most people's marriages in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In this country, the care is given during delivery only tells the pregnant woman to squat by a tree and push the baby out. The umbilical cord is then later cut off by a midwife, or sometimes the mother that has given birth to many children can do that from the experience that she already had. A woman who hasn't given birth to any child, in this case, is described as a useless one. Most of them are classified as ones that have witchcraft or have been possessed by some evil spirits (Fantaye, Gunawardena &Yaya).

The birth culture in the Democratic Republic of Congo is different from that of the United States. Unlike in the DRC, women are freely allowed to visit hospitals even during pregnancy for clinical checkups to ensure that the baby is growing safely and well. Giving birth at home is forbidden, and the mother giving birth is given a high level of care at the hospital. The wealth, in this case, is not measured or compared to the number of children that an individual has. Compare this culture explains why there are more mortality rates at birth in DRC than in the United States of America.

Their practices do not appeal to what I am familiar with within the United States. Given that first, the courses have led to an increase in the mortality rate of both the mother and the infants during the delivery process. No matter how many children they have, mothers should be given the quality and experienced care during birth (Vedam et al., 2019). Many complications are related to childbirth, and in most cases, they require special attention from a nurse or a doctor specialist in a health facility or a hospital setup. The child, too, might be born by a complication that, when early detected, the child's life might just be saved. Some mothers tend to lose a lot of blood during birth. Most of these mothers should also be educated on the safer ways to take care of their children's health. This saved lives, got more women educated, and emphasized the importance of health facilities (Vedam et al., 2019).

References

Fantaye, A. W., Gunawardena, N., & Yaya, S. (2019). Preferences for formal and traditional childbirth and postnatal care sources among women in rural Africa: a systematic review. PloS one, 14(9), e0222110. journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0222110

Vedam, S., Stoll, K., Taiwo, T. K., Rubashkin, N., Cheyney, M., Strauss, N., ... & Declercq, E. (2019). The Giving Voice to Mothers study: inequity and mistreatment during pregnancy and childbirth in the United States.  Reproductive Health, 16(1), 1-18. reproductive-health-journal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12978-019-0729-2?fbclid=IwAR3xIiEXnMpA2IboUbFcL0GIoliz9Q-V-bREvkCdwMCf4iozKIxqiLWK0d4